A Bread A Day

Week Eight: Crackers

I decided to do crackers this week since they’re hardly ever made at home.  But really, there’s no reason for that.  Yes, I know they’re far easier to just buy at the store, and I have certainly bought my share.  But there’s simply no comparing the flavor of homemade crackers to something you pull out of a box.  Even when they’re plain, crackers from your own kitchen just taste more wholesome, somehow.

But that’s not even taking into account the almost literally endless variations you can get into when making your own crackers.  Want lemon zest with your cracked pepper crackers?  Throw it in!  Don’t like poppy seeds?  Leave them out!  Who wants sweet potato crackers?  And you can even switch up the flavors mid-batch, if you suddenly remember that jar of smoked paprika that would be just perfect with your cumin seeded crackers.  Heck, you can even change flavors after they’re done, by brushing on some olive oil (try flavored oil!), dusting with any herb or spice, and re-crisping in a warm oven.  Forget flavor variation with store-bought crackers, you’re stuck with that box of pungent and stale garlic-herb things until you cave in and throw them out.

You can roll out your own crackers as thin or as thick as you like, to boot.  If you like your crackers hearty enough to pile dips on, leave them a little thicker.  If you like your crackers airy and delicately crisp, roll them thinner.  And if there was ever a reason to get a pasta machine (aside from that gorgeous texture and flavor of homemade pasta), it’s so you can whip up a batch of crackers faster than your guests can arrive.

By the way, did I mention how easy some crackers are to make?  True, there are many recipes that use a pie crust method (when you quickly cut cold fat into flour), which can be a little tricky to do by hand; but if you have a food processor, it couldn’t be easier.  There are, however, cracker recipes out there that are almost laughably easy.  The recipe below, for Olive Oil Crackers, is one of these.  Can you knead dough?  Then you can make these.

This recipe does call for semolina flour, which gives the crackers a great nutty flavor, and also makes the dough a bit easier to roll out.  If you can’t find it, you can certainly use another type of flour (whole wheat, white, white-whole-wheat, rye, etc.), but the results will obviously be a little different.  Certainly not bad, though!  I think they benefitted from an extra dusting of kosher salt rolled into the unbaked dough, but if you’re serving them with salty cured meats, or with cheeses that require a more neutral flavor, then of course leave that off.  The flavor of your olive oil will come through here; a nice fruity one will be apparent, but they are also great with a more inexpensive and more modestly-flavored one.  Any way you choose to make these, I can hardly imagine a more impressive offering next to wine and cheese than a plate of these rustic crackers.  

Olive Oil Crackers
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1 1/2 cups semolina flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 heaped teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup warm water
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
special optional equipment: pasta machine

1.  Whisk together the flours and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer, or in a large bowl. Add the water and olive oil. If using a mixer, mix with the dough hook attachment at medium speed for about 5 to 7 minutes. If mixing by hand, blend dough together, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. The dough should be just a bit tacky – not too dry, not too sticky to work with. If you need to add a bit more water (or flour), then do so.

2.  On a lightly floured surface, shape the dough into a large ball. Cut into twelve equal-sized pieces, and round into a small ball. Gently rub each piece with a bit of olive oil, cover with a clean dishtowel or plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes.

3.  While the dough is resting, preheat your oven to 450º F. If you have a baking stone, heat it up with the oven.

4.  When the dough is done resting, flatten one dough ball. Using a rolling pin or a pasta machine, shape into a flat strip of dough.  Before rolling out to the thinnest thickness, sprinkle on any desired toppings, and roll into the dough.  Pull the dough out a bit thinner by hand if you like, in the way you might stretch pizza dough. Gently lift dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and dock each cracker with the tines of a fork to prevent puffing.

5.  Slide into the oven onto the baking stone, if you have one.  If not, just put the baking sheet into the oven. Repeat the process for the remaining dough balls, baking in small batches of three or four pieces of dough at a time. Bake until deeply golden, and let cool before eating.

Notes:
1.  I was able to roll my dough out at the #5 setting on a (borrowed) pasta machine (out of 6 settings), which resulted in a nice and wonderfully thin cracker.  However, out of fear of rolling too thin, I rolled most of them out at the #4 setting.  Both worked just as well as the other.

2.  Feel free to let loose with toppings on these: any spice, any spice blend, flavored salts, flavored oils, grated cheese, cornmeal, seeds, and on and on.

3.  You can leave the crackers in big sheets and let your guests break bits off, or you can break them apart into rustic and variable pieces yourself.  Conversely, you can also cut them into neat and orderly (or not!) pieces with a pizza wheel before baking.

Week Seven: American Breads

When I mentioned to a coworker that I was planning on making flour tortillas as part of my American-Bread-themed week, he gave me a strange look.  “Are tortillas American?” he asked.  And it gave me pause – I had simply added them to the list, and not given it a second thought.  Weren’t they actually Mexican?  Well, yes and no.  Thinking on it, I realized that not only were flour tortillas American, they’re just about up there with apple pie.  (Keep in mind that I’m only referring to flour tortillas; corn tortillas are a bit of a different beast.)

First, as the world’s leading exporter of wheat, we have a lot of flour on hand to deal with.  Mexico, on the other hand, grows considerably more corn than flour, which gives America the edge on claiming the flour tortilla as its own.  Second, there is not really a history of flatbreads as made by American Indian tribes in the plains region of the USA (where wheat now grows best).  Their sustenance came more from ready-to-eat (as it were) plants and animals, since most of these tribes were nomadic hunters, and were never in one place long enough to cultivate wheat properly.  So while the idea of a flatbread did originate in South and Central America and spread North, those regions used corn almost exclusively in making those flatbreads.  A flour tortilla didn’t become widespread until wheat production and Mexican cooking crossed paths, in the Southwest US, near the North Mexican border, where it is now inextricably linked with the cuisine.  Third, there can hardly be another bread quite as prevalent in American grocery stores as the flour tortilla.  In every region, you’ll certainly find a package or two in the refrigerated section.  And with the recent popularity of wrap sandwiches, they’re still more available, and in every imaginable different size, shape, and flavor.

So yes, Virginia, flour tortillas really are American.  Anyone who tells you any different is selling something.  And boy, they sure couldn’t be easier to make.  Do you have thirty minutes and a hot oven?  Then you’re all set!  There is one strange ingredient in the short list, however; and it’s one that inspires all sorts of fear in the hearts of health-conscious Americans: lard.  Yes, lard.  Lard, lard, lard.

Let me be one of the first to tell you (assuming you’re under the age of 65 or so) that lard is not bad for you!  Did you know it has much less saturated fat than butter, and far more of the good fat (monounsaturated)?  I’m not saying you should go eat a bucket of it, but it’s actually better for you than butter!  And have you ever tasted chicken fried in lard?  Heaven!  A word of caution, though: don’t just go and pick up that one-pound container from the shelf of that little Hispanic grocery store.  Yes, it is lard, but that stuff at room temperature is very hydrogenated, and is just as bad as Crisco.  If you’re up for rendering your own, that’s the best route, since un-hydrogenated lard is quite rarely sold in this country.  If you can’t be bothered (I certainly couldn’t, this time around!), use the more readily available vegetable shortening.  I found an organic, un-hydrogenated shortening at Whole Foods that works very well in these applications.  Substituting butter won’t really work; you’ll end up with tough tortillas.  All the rolling and shaping requires the ductility of shortening.

So now you know.  Lard is good.  Flour tortillas are definitely American.  And yes, you can buy these in the grocery store; but just try making them once.  The dough is very simple to make, and they roll out very easily.  And just wait until you try them – they’re so subtle and good, you’ll hardly believe that they came out of your own oven!  They’re warm, and chewy, and a little crispy, and just wonderful.  Pick up a rotisserie chicken, some good guacamole, and some tomatoes and cilantro, and you’ve got dinner covered!  Now get out there and make some soft tacos!

Flour Tortillas
From The Joy of Cooking
Makes eight 6-8 inch tortillas

2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable shortening or lard
3/4 cup warm water (105º – 115º F)

1.  Mix all ingredients by hand or in an electric mixer on low speed until the dough comes together.  Knead on a lightly floured surface, or with the mixer’s dough hook, until smooth, about 4 to 6 minutes.

2.  Divide the dough equally into 8 pieces, and roll them into balls.  Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

3.  Place a baking stone or an inverted baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 450º F.  Roll out each ball of dough into a 6 to 8 inch round.  If the dough is resistant, move to the next piece and return later to finish rolling.

4.  Place as many dough rounds as will fit directly on the baking stone and bake for about 3 minutes.  When the tortilla puffs or balloons, remove it to a rack to cool.  For crisp tortillas, flip them over and bake on the second side as well.

Notes:
1.  Feel free to mix in any herbs or other flavorings you like.  Try mixing in some cinnamon, and use them in sweet or savory applications like these: fill with pork and slices of grilled (or broiled) peaches; spread with Nutella and just roll and eat; or serve with grilled chicken and a good mole sauce.

2.  I was a little worried at first about the mixing order in step 1 – the recipe just says to mix it all together, with no rhyme or reason!  Don’t worry about it; the warm water helps melt the shortening a little, so it disperses pretty evenly throughout the dough.  If you’re doing it by hand, though, I do suggest either adding the water or the fat first, then the other; it’ll blend into the flour more easily that way.

Week Six: Italian Breads

I can picture it: you’re navigating the intimate aisles of that little Italian market, browsing around the fifty different brands of olive oil, the mysterious tins of sardines that you’re sure must be delicious (if only you knew what in the world to do with them), the thickly seductive smells of prosciutto and Parmigiano permanently infused in the store fixtures.  Then, perhaps among the grissini or the amaretti, you notice a bag of ring-shaped things, looking a bit like dried tortellini.  Interesting, but since the text on the package is all Italian, there’s no way to know exactly what they are.  Are they sweet or savory?  Are you supposed to use them to make something else, like you use savoiardi to make tiramisú?  Are they cookies or crackers?  Do you just set them out?  Frustrated, you put them back, and maybe make a mental note to try them later, but you probably never will.

Well, wonder about them no longer!  Those little rings are called Taralli, and they are absolutely fabulous.  Most common in Southern Italy, they are a favorite street-food-snack.  They can be sweet or savory, but it’s generally easy to tell which is which.  Sweet taralli are often glazed with sugar, while the ones that look plain are typically savory.  They can be flavored with any number of things, but fennel seed (taralli ai finocchio), red pepper (taralli al peperoncino), and rosemary (taralli al rosmarino) are the most common.  Whether sweet or savory, they are often served with and dunked into wine.  In the USA, they can be found at the occasional Italian bakery, or otherwise made by your local Nonna in her kitchen.

They can be as big as a bracelet, or small enough to fit only on your fingertip (then sometimes called tarallini), but they always have the same unique, glorious texture: not quite crunchy, not quite soft, maybe a little crumbly, but not crumb-y.  They are boiled, like bagels or pretzels, and I have seen recipes that call them Italian Pretzels.  The dough is made with semolina (pasta flour) and that answer to all your Italian baking problems, 00 flour (a soft wheat flour that is very finely milled), enriched with olive oil, and flavored with white wine.  

Okay.  In all honesty, I’ve never had store-bought, pre-packaged taralli.  And in fact, until I made them, I’d only had them one other time in my life that I can remember, from a bakery, and very long ago.  So I can’t really tell you how homemade taralli stack up against mass-produced ones; but based on my experience with other homemade-vs.-storebought breads, I feel fairly confident in saying that it’s probably worth the effort to make them.  And yes, it is an effort.  These taralli are small, which is wonderful for little bites to go with antipasti or wine, but which also means you have to work a little more to make them.  But once you get into the groove of it, it’s a rather calming, zen sort of activity.  Just let your mind wander, and settle in for a little while.  Or get a friend to help – it’s a perfect activity for chatting over!

One slightly disconcerting thing about this recipe is the propensity for the olive oil to leach out of the dough.  So I recommend rolling the ropes of dough out on a cutting board, or another wooden surface that will absorb it.  Anyway, I’m sure your cutting board is getting a little dry, right?  I know mine was!  If you try it on your counter, though, just be prepared to wipe it off every so often with a paper towel – it gets too slick to roll anything on it after a while.  Or, I suppose you could reduce the amount of olive oil in the recipe.

You can also make these any size you want, but the directions here make a shockingly large number of very small tarallini – one hundred!  But when they’re baked, they don’t seem like that many.  And they’re absolutely addictive, so don’t be surprised if your hard work disappears in less time than it took you to make them.  Don’t let it get you down, though – I bet you’ll find them just as irresistible as anyone else!  Dig in and enjoy!

Tarallini al Peperoncino
Makes 100 small biscuits

3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1/3 cup semolina
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1.  Whisk together the flours, semolina, sugar, peppers, and 1 1/2 heaped teaspoons salt, then stir in wine and oil. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead with lightly floured hands until smooth and elastic, about 2 minutes.

2.  Put dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour.

3.  Halve dough, then cut each half into 10 pieces. Keeping remaining dough covered, roll 1 piece of dough into a 20-inch-long rope on an unfloured surface. Cut rope into 5 pieces, then roll each piece into a 4-inch-long rope, connecting ends of each to form a ring. Repeat with remaining dough, keeping all other dough covered.

4.  Bring 5 cups (more or less) water to a boil with remaining teaspoon salt in a medium pot.  Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Oil or line with parchment paper 2 large baking sheets.

5.  Boil rings in 4 batches just until they float, about 2 minutes per batch. Transfer with a slotted spoon to prepared baking sheets, arranging rings 1/2 inch apart.

6.  Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, 30 to 40 minutes (depending on size). Transfer to racks to cool completely.

Notes:
1.  Tarallini will keep in an airtight container for about 2 weeks – but they certainly won’t last that long!

2.  The original recipe called for type “00” flour, a finely-milled Italian flour.  It can be hard to come across, so I substituted the cake and all-purpose flour mixture.  If you have it, though, by all means use it instead.

3.  If you’re not a fan of pepper, you can certainly leave it out.  For another flavor variation, try crushed toasted fennel seeds (maybe 2-3 teaspoons), or some rosemary.  Other less traditional flavorings could include poppy seeds, any finely-chopped nuts or ground nut meal (almond, walnut, pistachio, etc.), thyme, oregano, cumin, mint, etc. etc. etc.  Add a little more sugar to the dough (maybe 1-2 tablespoons), and coat them after they’ve cooled in a milk/powdered sugar/lemon zest glaze.  Serve with coffee or tea, and call it a day!

Week Six: Italian Breads

Today, I give you a very obscure Italian bread: the piadina.  I don’t actually even recall seeing this bread in the times I’ve traveled to Italy; it’s only been in textbooks and anecdotal recountings that I’ve even heard of such a thing.  It’s a true Italian flatbread: rustic, simple, and so very delicious.  Piadine (the plural form) originated in the Romagna region of Italy, in the central-North area of the country.  It was originally a peasant’s food, as it is unleavened, and made of a few simple ingredients.

Yes, it is very similar to the Mexican or Central American flour tortilla, both in composition and in form.  They both utilize a medium-protein flour, salt, water, and some form of shortening.  The tortilla traditionally uses lard, however, while the piadina generally uses olive oil.  Both are rolled to the same approximate size and thickness; but the tortilla is far more common than the piadina.  Tortillas are served with every imaginable food, and are often used in lieu of utensils.  On the other hand, piadina are more often served with lighter fare, such as salads, or slivers of cured meats and cheeses.  A recent addition to the piadina’s repertoire is a thin spread of that heavenly gift to the palates of the world, Nutella.

Another main difference between the ubiquitous tortilla and the obscure piadina is just that: the variance in popularity.  And why?  They are equally as indigenous to the culinary culture as one another, and each is just as ancient as the other; but despite the nearly-identical makeups, the tortilla is far more easily associated with salsa and cilantro than the piadina is with pesto and parsley.  My best hypothesis is that we (in the US) are geographically closer to the home cooking of the Mexican and Central American kitchen – and both of these breads are typically more of a home-cooked item than an accompaniment for a fine dining dish.  Additionally, Italians have far more experience with many other wheat-based breads; while the Mexicans and Central Americans were long relegated solely to the use of corn-based breads, which adapt well and easily to the flatbread format.

Both breads are common street-vendor foods; but again, the piadina is most often seen at those sorts of carts, or in a home kitchen; while the tortilla may now be found in nearly every kitchen, from the lowliest to the most haute.  I say, it’s time to give the piadina its due!  Made so super quickly, from ingredients you probably have in your kitchen right now, they are a great accompaniment to anything you want to eat bread with.  They have the soft texture and fruity olive-oil-flavor of many other Mediterranean breads, but also the speed and ease of a typical flatbread.

Since these breads can bake up soft or crisp, depending on how long you cook them (or reheat in an oven), you can be the decider on texture – not always the case with good bread!  As another suggestion, Michael Chiarello recently introduced these breads to the Food Network crowd, and spread the dough with an olive oil/garlic/crushed red pepper paste, which looks absolutely fantastic.  Try mixing cayenne into the dough itself, or maybe just some dried basil or oregano.  Of course, the more you mix into/add to the basic dough, the further you get away from the authentic (and rare!) piadina experience.  But if the Italians have taught me anything, it’s to follow the passion of the moment, and just go with what you’re feeling.  Capisce?  I know you do!

Piadine
From Bread by Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter
Makes four 7-inch rounds

6 ounces unbleached white flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
7 tablespoons lukewarm water

1.  Sift the flour and salt together into a large bowl; make a well in the center.

2.  Add the oil and water to the flour and gradually mix to form a dough.  Knead on a lightly-floured surface for 4-5 minutes until smooth and elastic.  Place in a lightly-oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 20 minutes.

3.  Heat a griddle or a heavy pan over medium heat.  Divide the dough into four equal pieces and roll each into a 7 inch round.  Cover until ready to cook.

4.  Lightly oil the hot griddle, add one or two piadine, and cook for about 2 mintues, or until they are starting to brown.  Turn the piadine over and cook for a further 1 – 1 1/2 minutes.  Serve warm.

Notes:
1.  My piadine seemed to keep fairly well in a Ziploc bag in the refrigerator; but when I reheated them in the oven a couple of days later, they were rather tough.  I highly recommend eating them as soon as possible after baking.

2.  If your pan is too hot, the piadine will develop burnt spots where the air bubbles form.  If you don’t mind, this is not necessarily a problem.

3.  I recommend using all-purpose rather than bread flour.  Long story short, the protein content of all-purpose flour works better in this application.